Since we’re surrounded by such a huge cloud of witnesses, let’s throw off everything that weighs us down and any sin that gets in our way. Let’s keep on running the race on the course in front of us.
‘I know what you’ve been doing, how you’ve been working long and hard. I that know you don’t tolerate evil people. You’ve tested those who claim to be apostles but aren’t, and you’ve discovered that they’re fakes.
Whenever we pray to our God and Father, we remember the work that your faith produces, the service that’s the result of your love, and the strength to continue that comes from your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
But hope that can be seen isn’t really hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we don’t have yet, we wait for it patiently.
Paul talked about how to live a godly life, about how people should control themselves, and about the time when God will judge everyone. This made Felix afraid. He said, “That’s enough for now! You may go, but when I find the time, I’ll send for you again.”
But the seed that fell on good soil stands for those who have good and honest hearts. Those people hear the message, keep it in their hearts, remain faithful, and produce a good crop.
Everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that we would have hope both through the endurance the Scriptures teach and through the encouragement they provide.
“Everyone who’s supposed to be captured will be captured, and everyone who’s supposed to be killed by a sword will be killed by a sword.” So God’s people must be patient and faithful.
I, John, am your brother and your partner in the suffering, the kingdom, and the patient endurance of Jesus. I was on the island of Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony of Jesus.
From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. God sent me to help his chosen people deepen their faith and understand even better the truth that leads to godly living.
Without question, true godliness comes from this great mystery: Jesus came as a human being, and he was declared right with God by the Holy Spirit. He was seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory.